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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28151499">Hot Cocoa</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/wardenmages/pseuds/wardenmages'>wardenmages</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Detroit Evolution - Fandom, Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, Octopunk Advent</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:21:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,650</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28151499</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/wardenmages/pseuds/wardenmages</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Every single cold morning, especially when Gavin fell asleep at his desk and she walked in to see his face burrowed into his sweatshirt like a pillow, Tina brought him the same cheap, shitty hot chocolate. He’d always whine that it had no caffeine, but he took it anyway, and it was just. A thing they did.</p><p>Tina &amp; Gavin fluff for Octopunk Advent</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tina Chen &amp; Gavin Reed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Hot Cocoa</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> 2022 </em>
</p><p>Tina leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms over her head until something popped. The library was nearly empty as the sun rose sluggishly in the sky. She honestly could not remember why this had seemed like a good idea - she could still be in bed with Marin in their very warm apartment with Marin’s very snuggly dog, but instead she had committed to spending the entire day studying and doing homework. This was stupid, and no amount of blankets or snacks in the classroom she’d commandeered for herself would make it less stupid.</p><p>God, she needed coffee. Or to bash her head into a wall. Either one.</p><p>She shrugged the blanket off of her shoulders and locked her laptop as she stood up. There was a coffee machine somewhere in the library, she just had to figure it out. Preferably without having to ask someone and talk to another human just as unhappy about being up early as she was.</p><p>The weird vending machine was, thank <em> god</em>, already switched on for the day, and she slammed the coffee button immediately. She shifted back and forth in place as she grabbed creamer out of the mini-fridge on top of the side table, and that’s when she saw it - him. Just beyond the machine, on the other side of the main staircase, some guy was asleep at one of the tables, wrapped up in a thick comforter. She winced; poor dude probably fell asleep studying the night before and never made it home. </p><p>Tina checked how much time her coffee had - four minutes - and jumped around it to walk to the table. “Hello?”</p><p>The guy was instantly awake, jerking straight up like she was about to attack him. She held up her hands in surrender and he sat back, at least lowering his fists to hold onto his blanket. </p><p>“What do you want?” he grumbled, blinking a few times.</p><p>“Just... saw you over here and wanted to check if you’re good, sleeping at these tables sucks.”</p><p>“I’m fine.”</p><p>“It’s like seven in the morning if you wanna head home.”</p><p>He shrugged, glaring down at the table.</p><p>Oh.</p><p>“I’ve got one of the classrooms booked for the day if you want to move there before everyone else comes in,” she offered quietly. “I won’t bother you, I’m just working on homework. Everywhere else’ll be packed in like an hour.”</p><p>He didn’t answer for a long time. Finally he gave in, standing up very slowly and dumping his blanket on the table to grab in a bundle. “Sure. I, uh... Thanks.”</p><p>“It’s room A3 if you wanna head over, the door’s locked but I’ll be over in a couple minutes.”</p><p>He stared at her again for a moment before rushing off.</p><p>He looked equally as confused when she got to the door with two cups, which she had to set down on a shelf as she punched in the door code. She had booked the best classroom - it was full of couches and had a media center. She felt a bit selfish taking it when a group might have needed more of the space, but whatever, she got there first. She <em> had </em> hoped she could wrangle some of her friends into joining her between classes, but they all bailed, which was fine, because she’d just make a <em> new </em> friend instead.</p><p>Said new friend immediately bundled himself back up on the couch, on the complete opposite side from her pile of crap, barely poking out of his portable blanket nest. Tina set one of the cups down on the table in front of him before going back to her own mess. He looked up, then looked at her, then back at the cup.</p><p>“Uh, what the hell’s that?” he asked warily.</p><p>“Hot chocolate. You look cold, and I was already there.”</p><p>“You don’t know if I even like it.”</p><p>She shrugged. “I’ll drink it if you don’t.”</p><p>“... It’s fine.”</p><p>She smiled, hiding it by leaning her cheek on her palm. “Thought so.”</p><p>“Why’re you doing that?”</p><p>“Doing what?”</p><p>“Uh, the whole <em> charity </em> thing?”</p><p>“I’m just a nice person?”</p><p>“Fucking <em> seriously?” </em></p><p>“I literally thought you just slept here by accident, I’ve done that before,” she admitted. “I’m Tina, by the way.”</p><p>“Whatever.”</p><p>“You have a name or anything? I could just make up a nickname or something.”</p><p>He rolled his eyes. “Fuck no. It’s Gavin.”</p><p>“Well then,” she said with a grin as he finally conceded and picked up the hot chocolate, “Nice to meet you, Gavin.”</p><hr/><p>Tina didn’t know until much, much later why he was sleeping in the community college library that day. She didn’t find out until they both started at the academy six months later. He wasn’t a student, just taking advantage of an open building for the night. He usually did have an actual place to sleep, just not that night, living with a cop who got him a small job at the station until he could qualify to move up.</p><p>She didn’t find out until even later, another year after <em> that </em>, that he’d moved in after his former friends nearly beat him to death for refusing to rob someone with them. That when she met him he had been clean for five months and had bailed for that one night because the cop caught him talking to an old contact - not because he was kicked out, but because he couldn’t deal with “fucking up so fucking badly” as he’d put it. That he never took up her offer to chill out at her place for a night or two because he had nightmares almost every time he fell asleep and he was terrified of driving her off like he did everyone else.</p><p>Every single cold morning, especially when he fell asleep at his desk and she walked in to see his face burrowed into his sweatshirt like a pillow, she brought him the same cheap, shitty hot chocolate. He’d always whine that it had no caffeine, but he took it anyway, and it was just. A thing they did. She thought it was cute, and he never turned her down or actually told her to stop, so she kept doing it.</p><p>On the worst days, he didn’t say anything about it, just wrapped his hands around the cup so most people wouldn’t notice them shaking. She’d pat his shoulder as she walked by because she knew what he couldn’t say, until much later that night when he’d text a <em> thanks </em> while she was asleep.</p><p>It was technically morning, but Tina hadn’t actually slept yet, so it didn’t count. It was about four last she checked, but that had been a little while ago. She was curled up on one end of the couch with a thick comforter wrapped around her, resting her elbow on the arm of the couch so she could hold her head upright. Gavin was on the other end sitting sideways with his knees tucked up to his chest, similarly burrowed into a weighted blanket that covered up half of his face. The TV was on but Tina hadn’t really been paying attention to what movie was on for the past three hours.</p><p>It had been a very, <em> very </em> long night.</p><p>They started off at the bar, which was rare, but it was supposed to be normal. They were just going to go and get Tina a disgustingly sweet drink while Gavin had watered down soda and they shared a cheap vegan pizza, because it was the only bar near their apartment that sold it. They arrived early to avoid the crowds but eventually the bar filled up more and more until Tina could only hear a giant wall of noise. </p><p>
  <b>&lt;Gavin&gt; can we leave</b>
</p><p>She glanced over at him. His shoulders were hunched nearly to his ears and he looked ready to bolt at the first opportunity. </p><p>
  <b>&lt;Tina&gt; Yeah of course</b>
</p><p>
  <b>&lt;Tina&gt; Do you wanna bring the food home? I can grab a box while you wait outside</b>
</p><p>
  <b>&lt;Gavin&gt; yes</b>
</p><p>As she expected, he booked it right out. She brought the remainder of the pizza up to the food counter and asked for a box. The whole time she waited she kept an eye on her phone, just in case. By the time she got outside, Gavin had ducked into the alley beside the bar and was staring down at the other end. She held the box out to get his attention.</p><p>“Ready to go?”</p><p>“Uh, yeah.”</p><p>She looked in the direction he’d been watching so intensely. There was a small group of people watching right back. “D’you know them?” she asked in a whisper.</p><p>“Yeah, not in a good way,” he mumbled. “I’m gonna drive around a bit to make sure they’re not following us.”</p><p>“Got it.”</p><p>They had followed, for a few blocks. Half an hour later the pizza was cold in her lap and Gavin finally moved back on track towards their complex. He pulled into their spot and threw the car into park.</p><p>“Sorry,” he finally said softly. “I, uh, didn’t mean for that to happen.”</p><p>“Who were they?”</p><p>He stared straight forward at the wall. “I used to hang out with a couple of them. Just didn’t want to deal with it, and I didn’t know if they recognized me, so I kinda freaked out.”</p><p>“I get it,” she said, even though she really couldn’t.</p><p>He didn’t point that out, instead jumping out of the car and heading up to their apartment without her.</p><p>Once she kicked her shoes off and threw her jacket on the chair near the door, Tina turned the TV on to a channel with a bunch of old movies. Gavin was already slumped down on the couch with a far-away look on his face. She tossed the weighted blanket they shared next to him on the couch, and settled down with a couple of feet between them. He didn’t like having people all over him - she was the only one he even let try to talk him down - so she gave him space. </p><p>Finally, at - she checked her phone - 4:32 in the morning, he sent her a message with just a string of poop emojis. She snorted and sat up straight, stretching until something in her back cracked.</p><p>“You gonna go to bed or anything?” she asked through a yawn.</p><p>“Can’t sleep,” he grumbled.</p><p>“Good. I’m making coffee. You are not getting caffeine.”</p><p>He texted her a middle finger emoji.</p><p>“Does that mean you don’t want your gross marshmallows?”</p><p>“... I do.”</p><p>“Thought so.”</p><p>They stayed up the rest of the night making fun of the old 90s sitcoms that rolled through, Tina inhaling two and a half cups of coffee while Gavin drank his hot chocolate with the terrible Lucky Charms marshmallows they bought as a joke that he was actually obsessed with.</p><p>They could deal with the details of that night later. </p><hr/><p>
  <b>&lt;Gavin&gt; Are you driving</b>
</p><p>She was used to waking up to texts like that from him, so she answered while trying to get dressed while still half-asleep. Valerie had to leave early to meet with a client, so Tina was left to pull herself together like a functional adult on her own.</p><p>
  <b>&lt;Tina&gt; Haven’t left yet, what’s up</b>
</p><p>
  <b>&lt;Gavin&gt; I need to call</b>
</p><p>
  <b>&lt;Gavin&gt; Or just text</b>
</p><p>
  <b>&lt;Gavin&gt; I think I fucked up</b>
</p><p>Tina didn’t hesitate before clicking the <em> call </em> button and putting it on speaker as she buttoned her uniform. The moment he needed her to head over, she was going to be ready to go.</p><p>“Hey,” Gavin mumbled. God, he sounded miserable. She could even hear him breathing too fast.</p><p>“Hey,” she answered quickly, picking the phone back up as she slipped into her shoes. “What’s up? You okay?”</p><p>He exhaled loudly, and his bed started creaking as he bounced his leg. “No. I’m not. I fucked up really badly.”</p><p>“Alright, slow down - what happened?”</p><p>“We can - we can talk about it later, I have to get ready, I just... think I’m freaking out and I didn’t know what to do.”</p><p>“Sure. I don’t need the details. You think you’ll be good to drive in?”</p><p>“Uh, yeah. Just have to meet with the Jericho rep and then I’m headed over.”</p><p>“Good. I’ll see you when you get in, and then we’ll drive around and pretend we’re tracking someone down or something for a little bit?”</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>He hung up before she could respond. Okay, this wasn’t a new situation. It didn’t happen super often - panic attacks weren’t as common as they used to be and he was better at texting her earlier on before it got really bad - but she still had a plan in place. </p><p>As soon as she got the heads up he was on his way back to the station she went back down to her car to wait for him. He actually jumped out of the driver’s seat of his own car, speed-walked over to her, and got into the passenger side without a word. His hands were shoved into his pockets and he was staring down the dashboard so intensely she was worried it would actually burst into flames.</p><p>“What the hell happened?” she asked. She glanced up at the rear-view mirror and saw Nines watching them with his LED neon yellow.</p><p>“Just go,” he mumbled. “I just need a sec.”</p><p>“We’re getting coffee by the way.” He was quiet for a long moment, so she smiled as she turned the key. “Same as usual?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Got it. Off we go.”</p><hr/><p>The morning after the first snow of the new year, Tina brought a cup in from the fancy cafe without even asking. Gavin was there before her - or maybe he never left - staring blankly at his monitor. Nines looked much more alert across the table and he shot her a bright smile as she walked up.</p><p>“Delivery for cranky pants over here,” she announced, setting the cup in front of Gavin. </p><p>He took the cup without looking at it, holding it in both hands. “Finally, it’s fucking freezing out.”</p><p>“I figured.” She patted him on the shoulder with a quick squeeze at the end. “I’m headed back out soon, I just stopped in for the drop-off.”</p><p>“No one asked you to do it,” Gavin grumbled. Like he ever had to ask.</p><p>“Too bad. Had to do it. Have fun, boys.”</p><p>Gavin shoved her off and rolled his eyes, but she still caught the goofy smile as he turned away. When she got back down to her car, her phone buzzed with a text alert right on schedule.</p><p>
  <b>&lt;Gavin&gt; thanks</b>
</p><p>
  <b>&lt;Gavin&gt; and nines says thanks for getting me something without caffeine</b>
</p><p>
  <b>&lt;Gavin&gt; because he’s an asshole</b>
</p><p>She smiled and slid into the driver’s seat before too much of the cold air could sneak into the car. She didn’t have to leave for a few more minutes, but she didn’t mind waiting outside.</p><p>
  <b>&lt;Tina&gt; tell him I love him &lt;3</b>
</p><p>
  <b>&lt;Gavin&gt; no</b>
</p><p>
  <b>&lt;Tina&gt; don’t worry you’re still my favorite</b>
</p><p>
  <b>&lt;Gavin&gt; I better be</b>
</p><p>
  <b>&lt;Tina&gt; do you still want to go out later? it's ok if not</b>
</p><p>
  <b>&lt;Gavin&gt; yeah. I'm good. just might have to head out early</b>
</p><p><b>&lt;Gavin&gt; I'm with a walking space heater I'll be fine</b> <b></b></p><p>Tina snorted and shoved the phone back into her pocket. Wilson opened the passenger side door and jumped in, already rubbing his hands together like they were about to fall off. </p><p>“Ready to go?” she asked cheerfully.</p><p>He sighed loudly. “Yeah, just let me thaw out a bit.”</p><p>“Thaw out on the way, we’re getting coffee anyway.”</p><p>“Didn’t you just bring something in for Reed?”</p><p>“Yup,” she said, tapping at the radio between them. “He gets the fancy stuff.”</p><p>“‘Course he does. I don’t think he’s left that chair since I went home yesterday.”</p><p>She shrugged and turned the key. “He’ll be fine. Always is.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Gavin: world hard and cold, but boyfriend soft and warm</p><p>Come hang out with me on twitter @wardenmages or tumblr @connorguerrin uwu</p></blockquote></div></div>
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